diff --git a/private/protocol/query/unmarshal_error.go b/private/protocol/query/unmarshal_error.go
index b8e3c7a3125..f2142961717 100644
--- a/private/protocol/query/unmarshal_error.go
+++ b/private/protocol/query/unmarshal_error.go
@@ -2,7 +2,7 @@ package query
 
 import (
 	"encoding/xml"
-	"io"
+	"io/ioutil"
 
 	"github.com/aws/aws-sdk-go/aws/awserr"
 	"github.com/aws/aws-sdk-go/aws/request"
@@ -15,6 +15,10 @@ type xmlErrorResponse struct {
 	RequestID string   `xml:"RequestId"`
 }
 
+type xmlServiceUnavailableResponse struct {
+	XMLName xml.Name `xml:"ServiceUnavailableException"`
+}
+
 // UnmarshalErrorHandler is a name request handler to unmarshal request errors
 var UnmarshalErrorHandler = request.NamedHandler{Name: "awssdk.query.UnmarshalError", Fn: UnmarshalError}
 
@@ -22,11 +26,16 @@ var UnmarshalErrorHandler = request.NamedHandler{Name: "awssdk.query.UnmarshalEr
 func UnmarshalError(r *request.Request) {
 	defer r.HTTPResponse.Body.Close()
 
-	resp := &xmlErrorResponse{}
-	err := xml.NewDecoder(r.HTTPResponse.Body).Decode(resp)
-	if err != nil && err != io.EOF {
-		r.Error = awserr.New("SerializationError", "failed to decode query XML error response", err)
-	} else {
+	bodyBytes, err := ioutil.ReadAll(r.HTTPResponse.Body)
+	if err != nil {
+		r.Error = awserr.New("SerializationError", "failed to read from query HTTP response body", err)
+		return
+	}
+
+	// First check for specific error
+	resp := xmlErrorResponse{}
+	decodeErr := xml.Unmarshal(bodyBytes, &resp)
+	if decodeErr == nil {
 		reqID := resp.RequestID
 		if reqID == "" {
 			reqID = r.RequestID
@@ -36,5 +45,22 @@ func UnmarshalError(r *request.Request) {
 			r.HTTPResponse.StatusCode,
 			reqID,
 		)
+		return
+	}
+
+	// Check for unhandled error
+	servUnavailResp := xmlServiceUnavailableResponse{}
+	unavailErr := xml.Unmarshal(bodyBytes, &servUnavailResp)
+	if unavailErr == nil {
+		r.Error = awserr.NewRequestFailure(
+			awserr.New("ServiceUnavailableException", "service is unavailable", nil),
+			r.HTTPResponse.StatusCode,
+			r.RequestID,
+		)
+		return
 	}
+
+	// Failed to retrieve any error message from the response body
+	r.Error = awserr.New("SerializationError",
+		"failed to decode query XML error response", decodeErr)
 }